Excavation
Date 16 June 2015 - 26 July 2015
Event ID 1026048
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1026048
HY 3753 2966 A team from the University of Bradford, Orkney College (UHI), William Paterson University and City University New York cleaned, recorded and sampled the site at Swandro, 16 June – 26 July 2015, as part of the Orkney Gateway to the Atlantic Project. The team included students,
freelance archaeologists and academics. The project aims to investigate and record coastal sites in Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre which are threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion.
Excavations at Swandro in 2015 saw a continuation of the work on the terraced beach with the further examination of the eroded Iron Age buildings investigated in the previous year. Structure 3, a Pictish building at the top of the series of eroded terraces, continued to be excavated with further signs of metalworking debris consisting of slag, furnace lining and crucible fragments being found. These infilling deposits were sampled and have high potential for botanical remains in the light fraction recovered from flotation. It now appears that the construction of the main Norse house excavated by Sigrid Kaland (1993) destroyed the eastern part of this structure, though the infill deposits may be earlier than this. To the W there seems to be a short passage leading out of the structure, with two possible steps. Further definition of other structural remains took place all along the upper terrace.
The Neolithic chambered cairn on the western boundary of the Iron Age site was uncovered to assess the tidal damage to the remains. This area was originally uncovered in 2012 and the structure of the cairn determined before being carefully recovered. However, observations last year suggested that
the large boulders had again shifted and that the outer of the casement walls was eroding. Excavation of the overlying beach and removal of the membrane laid down in 2012 showed an alarming amount of attrition to the monument. The stones forming the seaward part of the outer casement had been
rounded by the sea and much of the retained material had been washed out. The other casement walls also seem to be tipping seawards. This summer saw a lot of rainfall and a spring developed at the foot of the cairn draining towards the sea which may be hastening the erosion. The monument was
fully scanned using a 3D scanner by Dr A Wilson (University of Bradford), and aerial photos were taken (using a drone) by Robert Friel and Lindsey Kemp.
The passage entranceway on the E side of the tomb was located this season; two parallel wall faces lead through the cairn wall and are continued by a further wall which butts the outer casement walls of the cairn. It seems likely that this passage originally continued to the E but whether it was destroyed by Iron Age activity or continues in fragmentary form under the Iron Age structures which surround this side of the cairn is not yet known. This passageway has been deliberately filled with rubble and fine earth; a fragment of copper alloy and bone fragments, human and animal, were found in the top of the fill, but no further excavation took place on these deposits. Further investigation is needed to elucidate this relationship. Further excavation is planned for 2016.
Archive and report: ADS, National Record of the Historic Environment and Orkney SMR
Funder: Orkney Islands Council, Orkney Archaeological Society, University of Bradford, Orkney College, City University of New York and William Patterson University
SJ Dockrill, JM Bond, R Maher and R Friel – University of Bradford and Orkney College
(Source: DES, Volume 16)
